Roy Sheppard, 92, of Valley City announces his 43rd year of freedom from cancer at the Relay for Life in Valley City on Friday. His daughter, Mary Sheppard-Ritter (right), also announced her 11th year of no cancer. Both had battles with melanoma.
(Matt Blumkin/VCTR)

By Matt Blumkin
Valley City Times-Record

Roy Sheppard, 92, of Valley City has prevailed in his battle against cancer for the past 43 years.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Sheppard said.
In 1968, he had a random check-up at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a doctor discovered a tumor in one of Sheppard’s eyes in an examination for peripheral vision.
Sheppard had melanoma in his eye, and the doctor had caught it barely in time. Had the cancer spread more, it would have gone to the brain and become more aggressive. Sheppard had the eye removed to prevent the spreading.
“It was scary,” Mary Sheppard-Ritter, Roy Sheppard’s daughter, said regarding her father’s cancer. “We didn’t know what it was.”
She had learned of the news while attending college as a freshman. Sheppard-Ritter later had her own bout with melanoma, but on the skin instead of the eye.
Both became cancer free and regularly attend the Relay for Life in Valley City. Sheppard-Ritter has been cancer-free for 11 years, and she makes the trip from Chicago where she lives now to join her father in the relay.

For full story, see Monday's edition of the Valley City Times-Record.